Silhouette sees the sixth

The trip

Ever since 2009, after seeing how the crowd cheered against Rafa in that match against Soderling, I have been determined to at least make it to Roland Garros once (and it must be while Rafa is still playing) because I just want to show my support for him. Took quite a bit of planning but I was really really happy when I managed to secured semi-finals and finals tickets for the men’s matches. Ever since I’ve got the tickets, I have been day-dreaming about my trip to Roland Garros; for example, what should I get Rafa to autograph on,

23 Jun 2011 | by Silhouette | 20 Comments

RafaLint: June 13th

Rafa, choosing to baffle us at all times, is practicing on clay. (I get there are no grass courts in Mallorca, but he said he’d only do physical work and practice serves. Maybe I’m stupid – well, on this matter in addition to many others that are a given – but I don’t understand moving on clay when grass is right around the corner. Then again, it doesn’t look like he’s moving much. So, I dunno. I give up trying to second guess how to be a #1 ranked player.) Oh, and he’s held the #1 position for 100 weeks.

13 Jun 2011 | by miri | 33 Comments

Humble yes; silly no

Inés sent me a link to an interview with Rafa in EL PAÍS as well as the following translation. Do not reproduce the translation without her permission.

Be humble, yes, silly, no – an interview with Rafael Nadal by Juan José Mateo with translation by Inés

He says he has added his tenth Grand Slam title because he brings together the indispensable mixture of obstinacy and self-sacrifice. The formula seems simple, but with 25 years, very few can apply it to overcome the crisis of

12 Jun 2011 | by miri | 29 Comments

RG: Viva meets Rafa

So, after Rafa as the Armani model, I could not help but having a shot at seeing Rafa the winner of Roland Garros. On Sunday night, after Rafa’s victory at Roland Garros for the sixth time in his career, I told myself that I would really love to see him in person once again before him leaving Paris, and that I actually might not have another chance to do so for a long time after that.

I really thought twice about going to wait for Rafa at his hotel, because I consider that there are probably better means or better

11 Jun 2011 | by Viva | 7 Comments

Queens: Stepping into the quarters

For his 3rd round match at Queen’s Club, Rafa played #57 Radek Stepanek. There were errors, there were some Rafa serve meltdowns, but there were also some lovely shots from Rafa. A very see-saw match from him. As he always says, he’ll have to play better in the next round. He’s through: 6-3, 5-7, 6-1.

9 Jun 2011 | by miri | 49 Comments

RafaLint: June 7th

Random stuff that I don’t even feel like pretending I can sort into categories…

Aussie qualifier Ebden to play Nadal – a little about Rafa’s upcoming opponent at Queens.

JK wants to pass along this article: Roger Federer vs. Rafael Nadal: The rivalry is back — as beautiful and painful as ever – by Douglas Perry

Babolat congratulates their Roland Garros champions and KIA has done the same with their one.

Photos from Rafa’s RG victory party via L’ARC Paris’s Facebook.

Speaking

7 Jun 2011 | by miri | 9 Comments

More RG vids + a random flashback

Now you take a photo of us…now one of me and him…now all of us…

Nice piece from the iB3:

Both posted by NadalCuriosities.

And, just because I found it and don’t have enough time to start a Lint post before heading back to work….random 2004 dolphin swim!

Posted by webesports.

7 Jun 2011 | by miri | 7 Comments

Final Telegraph blog & Q&A

Rafa’s final blog & Q&A is up on the Telegraph site:

Hello everyone and many thanks for all your support during these past two weeks in Paris. It was a new experience to do this blog here and the feedback I got was very positive.

I am now in London and happy to be back on grass. I arrived yesterday (Monday) from Paris, after we celebrated on Sunday night and then went to Disney World in the morning.

When I arrived in

7 Jun 2011 | by miri | 8 Comments

RafaLint: June 6th part 2

Stuff to read:

Those Tiny Margins Made a Classic French Open – by Christopher Clarey
Nadal Thrives When Going Gets Tough – by Carl Bialik
The brawn, and beauty, of Rafael Nadal – by Jeff MacGregor
Tennis Gets Intimate – by Nick McCarvel
Faith in Fighting – by The Fan Child
Björn Borg: Det här slår allt jag sett hittills which mangles to Bjorn Borg: This beats anything I’ve seen so far.

6 Jun 2011 | by miri | 10 Comments

RafaLint: Midday June 6th

French interview with Rafa after winning RG:

RG coverage on Spanish TV:

Rafa at Disney from tve:

All of the above posted by NadalCuriosities

More of Rafa at Disney – looks like he took in some rides:

Posted by disneylandparis and thanks @SunShine_M_.

Party on, dude:

From iB3.

More from the iB3:
Rafel Nadal supera els seus límits – iB3 look at the final

Manacor celebrates RG

RG Stuffs:

6 Jun 2011 | by miri | 12 Comments